


love comes from the dirt in my own back yard

by cinderlily



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-15
Updated: 2010-07-15
Packaged: 2017-10-10 13:44:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/100413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David Cook doesn't know what he really needs until he gets everything he thought he wanted. (Baseball AU in which Cook is a slightly jaded pitcher and Archie is a rookie.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	love comes from the dirt in my own back yard

"_Bullshit._"

David Cook paused at the end of the locker bay, taking just a second to lean back and check the aisle that led out. When he saw that it was empty he turned and smacked his friend Michael Johns on the back.

"Hey, you better not let Seacrest hear you say that," David grinned. "I hear you still owe him the better part of a pay check from your first meeting."

Johns rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Rumor, Cook. Besides, let the little Leprechaun just try and con me out of my cash."

David laughed as he opened his locker and shrugged his bag off of his shoulder. He had changed before he left the hotel that morning, but still double-checked his work out clothes.

"So what exactly is the bullshit I missed?"

"Castro is trying to pull one on us."

Jason shrugged. "If you believe it or not it's still true."

"He doesn't even look old enough to be a bat boy," Johns protested.

In the three years that they had all been playing for the Omaha Royals he had come to realize just how futile it was to try and get something straight from those two, so he shifted his attention to lacing up his cleats.

When a foot hit the back of his shin he made a quick yelp of protest but Johns didn't look apologetic. He followed the jerk of Johns' head and caught sight of someone at the other end of the row. For a minute he just stared and wondered what he was supposed to be doing but when he turned towards them David realized just what it was. A tuft of messy dark hair, nervous smile and wow. The kid was cute, he could give him that, but he was indeed a kid.

He gave an awkward wave and smiled at them all before he closed his locker and walked to them with his hand out.

"Hi, I'm David Archuleta," the boy smiled, first taking Jason's hand, then Johns'. He went to offer it to David while he added. "I'm the new catcher."

David's mouth opened of its own will, "_Bullshit_."

"I'm sorry?"

Before he could pull himself back together enough to apologize a familiar voice came over the loud speaker to break the din of the locker room.

"Meeting in five, boys. Hustle."

There was something so intrinsically condescending when it came to Ryan Seacrest calling them boys. He was in his mid twenties; Seacrest wasn't even a decade older than him. It was… well. Frustrating to say the least. He swallowed the urge to say something (the guy had a gift for walking in when David said stuff like that) and smiled at the group around him.

"I guess that's our cue."

*

"Gentlemen," Simon stepped to the front of the room with his usual grimace on his face. "I trust you all had a perfectly adequate vacation filled with events I would not enjoy hearing about. It's time to get back to the real world."

David didn't think it was fair to call a group of guys playing baseball a 'serious business' like Simon seemed to think of it, but he nodded like he agreed whole-heartedly. Next to him Johns made a comment under his breath that even without knowing what he was talking about he knew was stupid and Jason's laugh didn't help the case. He looked over and found the two of them laughing at each other and just barely kept from rolling his eyes.

"We have a few new faces, so I trust you will all make them feel welcome," Simon frowned, and flicked his wrist towards Ryan. He nodded at the group of new people across the room and they all lined up.

Ryan looked down at his clipboard and then put a painfully fake smile on his face, "This is David Hernandez, he's going to start at short stop. Chikeze Eze and Danny Noriega are in the outfield. Colton Berry at third. And David Archuleta as our new catcher."

"Must we have three Davids on one team?" Simon rolled his eyes. "If your first name is David, you will be going by your last name."

David wanted to protest (he had been on the team first) but anyone on the team for longer than a day realized just how futile it was to argue with their Skipper. Johns had called him Cook for long enough that he was pretty sure it wouldn't be too hard. David Hernandez, or he guessed Hernandez, looked like he wouldn't make it more than three weeks. Not that it was fair of him to make that assumption, but he had been around just long enough to know the nervous twitches and just what they meant. Then there would be two of them, and _Archuleta_ could work to earn his name.

*

It was still spring training, so most of the first day was a series of trial and error. The pitching coach, Coach Jackson, had a tendency to get a little overly invested when it came to the "pump up" speech and he zoned out for the entirety of it until he started pairing people off to go and do warming up.

"Cook, you take Archuleta," he pointed in the direction of where the other David sat. He looked like he might actually be buzzing with excitement, making David wonder when he had become a little bit jaded. Even before he stood up Archuleta was on his feet and at his side, imaginary tail wagging with excitement.

He grabbed his mitt and led the way to the corner of the field they used for group warm ups.

"So, where are you from?"

He paused in his step and turned to see eager brown eyes looking up at him. _Jesus_ he thought, _this kid is young._

"Blue Springs, Missouri."

"That's nearby Kansas City, right?"

David nodded.

"That is so cool! You'll be right next to your family when you get called up. My family is in Utah, which… isn't far. No Salt Lake teams though, so I won't be that lucky. How long have you played for the Royals?"

He frowned, "I got called up two years ago."

"Before that you were in Arkansas?"

"Yeah."

David was pretty sure he was being rude, it was just that it had been so long since he had actually seen someone so damn _eager_ that he wasn't sure how he was supposed to handle it. Somehow it didn't seem to be much of a deterrent, and even if it should be kind of grating to have someone following him around like a reporter in training, it wasn't.

"How long were you there? Have you always been in the Royals farm system?"

"A few years, and yeah."

Before he could get to another question, they had reached their destination and the other David jogged ahead to where the other catchers were squatting. David took a moment seemingly to stretch the glove in his hand but actually for him to get his head back into the game completely. He leaned down to grab a ball from the tin that was in between where he and Jason stood.

Jason smiled at him widely, "See, told you so."

"He might be a player and he might be 18," David conceded. "But he acts like he was raised in _Pleasantville_."

Jason laughed, "What ever you say, Old Man."

He laughed, even if that felt a little to close to the truth for him to really think it was funny. In the off-season David had spent countless hours practicing the mechanics of his pitching. It was weird to think, but he couldn't help but feel an imaginary clock ticking somewhere. He was twenty-six, not sixty-five, but in all sports there did seem to be an expiration date set early on and every player seemed to know that. It was just a game of trying to run out that clock, to see how long one person can go.

He took the ball into his glove and stepped up to line. Took a moment and concentrated on the space where the imaginary strike box was. Inhaled, exhaled and then wound up and threw.

*

As was tradition, the end of the first day meant a trip to _King Kong's_, a small restaurant not far from the stadium. The food was good, and plentiful, but mostly they loved that it was quiet and yet didn't mind them being loud rowdy hooligans. Even if his joints were aching and he was pretty sure he needed to just go home and crash, there was just no way he would miss it (Nor did he think he could, he was pretty sure Johns would have dragged him).

When he had asked Archuleta if he wanted to come it had mostly been because they invited _everybody_, but the smile he had gotten for doing so had given him an odd tug of guilt about it. The guy was young, sure, but he couldn't help that. After a day of working with him, he also could tell that he had talent, and what problems he had were easy to fix as he was open to hearing any critiques. And maybe that should be annoying, but it wasn't.

"Wha' we gunna do b't your name?" Johns asked, his mouth still half full with a gyro.

To his credit, Archuleta mostly hid his obvious desire to cringe at the sight of food stuffed into Johns' mouth. "Excuse me?"

"Archuleta is a bit unwieldy," Johns said, having swallowed the last bit of his food. "What you need is a nickname."

The boy in question paused with food halfway to his mouth. "Nickname?"

"A nickname," Johns nodded. "Like take Cook, last season we called him 'Wild Thing'."

David stopped the three guys with a deadly serious glare, "Johns, **don't**."

"Um… my family calls me Dave sometimes?"

David couldn't help but chuckle at the obviously lame attempt to stop the conversation. The other David turned towards him sheepishly. He shook his head and smiled. "Nothing, man. Nothing."

"Archuleta…" Johns started, like he had entirely ignored the other responses to the question. "Arch-chew-leta. Choo…Chewie?"

Jason, who was seated right next to David, almost choked in the middle of bite of food. "Ch-…ch… Chewie? You want to nickname him _Chewie_?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"For one thing, he's _short_," Jason pointed out. David watched as Archuleta's ears went pink. "What about Leta?"

Johns laughed, "He isn't a girl, Castro."

Archuleta's cheeks had gone pink as well, and with the sudden desire to just put the kid out of his misery he said the first thing that came to mind, "How about Archie?"

Johns had been about to make a point, lost whatever point he was trying to make and shrugged instead. "_Archie_?"

"Yeah, like the cartoon."

Jason considered it while he took another bite of his burger. After he drank some of the tea in front of him he mirrored Johns shrug. "Does that mean we can call Johns 'Jughead'?"

To his credit he ducked the fry that Johns threw at him with the deftness he would dodge a ball hit towards his head. He grinned, obviously satisfied with the annoyance he had caused Johns and took the fry from where it had bounced off his arm and onto the table.

"Laugh it up," Johns shrugged, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "But it won't be so funny when your jersey reads 'Veronica'."

David looked over to find Archie looking a little more relaxed, not quite as flustered or embarrassed. He gave him a tentative smile and when he got what looked to be a totally genuine smile back David had the weird feeling like that action alone could count as a win.

*

By the time his first start had come around he was feeling a mixture of anxiety and excitement. Practice was nice, but there was something different about walking up to the center of the diamond and throwing out his first real pitch of the season.

He had had, what at least felt like, the best training session of his baseball career so far. He was able to get into it easier than he had in a while and he had found that his focus had somehow increased over his time off. He had been working on it, after all, so he was pretty proud at the idea of it finally taking hold (Only six years in the minors, he chided himself).

The catcher he had been working with the season before, Blake Lewis, had been traded to the Brewers during the off-season. After what was probably the shortest contest in recent memory David Archuleta, or Archie, was made the new starting catcher. David didn't mind, not really, but it was almost annoying to think that the kid could basically walk off the bus and onto the field. If it weren't for Archie's sincerity and smile, David would probably hate him on principle. Instead, he found that he somehow liked him already.

"You ready?" Archie asked, the picture of relaxation and poise barring the way his hands couldn't quite stay still and he had a ball rolling back and forth in his catcher's mitt.

David shrugged and gave a wry smile, "Ask me again after the game."

He got a crooked smile and head tilt, the one he was beginning to realize translated roughly to, 'You're weird.' Over the loud speaker the opening chords to their walk on song began and David swallowed and turned his best smile towards Archie.

"Ready or not," he jerked his head and both ran onto the field (Taking care to hop over the first base line... he wasn't superstitious but he also wasn't one to tempt fate).

They were playing the Isotopes, a team that he had struggled with in the past, and the nerves that he had kept at bay for the days leading up to it hit him in one fell swoop as he watched the first man come to the plate. He looked straight forward and at where Archie squatted behind the plate. He watched the first signal, shook his head at the suggestion of a slider and waited again till Archie gave him the one he thought could work best. (He trusted his knuckleball far more than his curveball.)

He took a deep breath, tugged his hat down a little, took a second to breathe before a quick check to make sure his grip was loose, and threw.

_Strike one, strike two, strike three_.

"**Sit down**," he muttered, mostly out of habit.

The home crowd cheered raucously and he relaxed. Good way to start the season.

*

By the top of the sixth he had stranded three people on base and was still scoreless, while his team had gone out and gotten him four runs as a buffer. He felt the warm feeling of contentment he liked to think made him play better, the confidence in his team translating as a confidence in himself.

The first guy to bat was the short stop, who was new but had already put up some pretty aggressive attempts on his pitching earlier in the night. David tried to ignore the way the man crowded the plate, making his easy go to pitch just a little bit dangerous. Archie made the signal again for him to try a slider. It wasn't one of the ones he was comfortable with.

He put a hand into fiddle with the ball in his glove, shifted his stance and fiddled with his hat. The batter finally put a hand up and stepped out of the box and David knew that he was taking too long. Archie started to stand up, like maybe he was going to come up to the mound and David just shook his head.

He could do this. He was ready for this. He didn't need his catcher to baby him. With a long inhale and a quick nod before he planted his foot and tried.

It was almost in slow motion as he watched the ball he had thrown head straightforward and just as the player turned in he saw the ball hit the guy square in the shoulder. The ump pointed towards first and David groaned. The guy had been crowding the plate! He had _turned into the pitch_. That wasn't a hit-by-pitch!

The crowd seemed to agree with him, calling out catcalls and boos that he hoped was more directed at the ump than himself. He looked over towards the dug out but found that Cowell still had the blank frown he wore during all the games.

He felt the blood in his veins start to churn but ignored it as the next player came up to bat. This time the guy wasn't crowding the plate and he was able to go with a pitch more comfortable with him, but somehow that didn't help. With in four pitches it was 3 balls to the one strike and he could just feel the annoyance mounting in his gut.

When his next pitch, a perfect execution of a change up, was called the fourth ball he had the sudden urge to question the validity of the ump's parents marriage at the time of his birth. He was livid, his skin felt too hot and he was just… not okay with the whole arrangement. Somewhere, in the rational part of his brain, he could hear the teasing from last season. ("Watch out, here comes _Wild Thing_.")

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" he yelled, and the ump lifted his mask to level him with a look of challenge. And David? Wasn't one to back away from that. He felt himself launch forward, but his foot hadn't even left the dirt mound before he felt Archie right in front of him.

"Hey hey hey," Archie said, surprisingly capable of keeping David from moving forward. "Let it go, come on. Take a moment."

David still felt like he was fuming but he exhaled and inhaled a few times. "That was a strike! How big is his strike zone, six inches? What the _fuck_?"

"Are we going to have a problem?" the ump said, coming up behind them and David had the beginnings of just how much of a problem they were going to have when Archie turned back and answered for them.

"No problem, just need a second," he said, and even with his face turned away from him David knew he was turning that thousand watt smile that could sell ice to Eskimos.

He tried again to get his breathing back, his blood pressure easing just slightly enough that he could relax one of his fists. The ump looked at him, again with challenge but also maybe just a little curiosity. He gritted his teeth and nodded, letting out a tight. "Yeah, just need a minute."

"Okay, you got it?" Archie looked up at him, his arm finally lowering a fraction back and off of David's chest. He couldn't help but nod. Maybe he just needed a second. He could feel himself relaxing back already. He got this.

He was proven wrong when the next pitch gave the other team a homerun and brought the score to 4-3.

*

It hadn't been a bad day, not really, they had gotten a win in the end and it even went in his win column as well. After the home run he had somehow got himself back into it enough to finish the inning before asking for relief. The nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach was that he hadn't played _well enough_. He had let himself get put into a jam and almost cost the team the win by shoddy pitching and loss of control in his last inning and it just didn't settle well at all.

He was almost home free, his clothes on and his bag slung over one shoulder when Archie came up next to him with a huge smile. His hair was still damp and his shirt damp against his chest. He must have barely let himself dry off, as David had left at the beginning of the ninth to get showered, stretched and iced while Archie had stayed back to watch the last inning.

"Are you coming?" Archie asked hopefully.

"I'm not really that hungry," David said with a shake of his head.

Archie tilted his head just slightly and gave him a puzzled look. "Not Kong's. It's Friday?"

"So?"

"They're showing fireworks!"

Coming from anyone else it would sound like a joke but the look on Archie's face, wide smile and happy glint in his eyes, was totally sincere. He wanted to say no, it wasn't like Archie would fault him for wanting to go home and even if he did he knew he would never let David see it. Still… the smile on Archie's face was the most relaxed he had seen in the two weeks he had known him and he was almost shocked to find that he really didn't want to take that away from him.

"Sure, why not?" he conceded, throwing his bag back into his locker and slamming it shut.

Archie's smile somehow got just a little bit wider and he rocked back onto the ball of his feet and rubbed his hands together, "Awesome! I think I know where we can go and watch. I got lost the other day when I was trying to find the bathroom and there was this door and it was totally perfect. It might be a little cramped but there aren't even trees or something but it's private, which would be nice if you want? I mean we could… um. Go out to the grass? But then it might be …"

Part way through the ramble David had walked the last few steps to the locker room door and with a flourish opened it up and motioned for Archie to walk ahead of him. "Lead the way."

"Okay. Cool… um," he replied, as he stepped through and then hesitated looking down the hall in each direction. Finally settling on left he took a few steps and then changed his mind and backtracked right. "This way."

David didn't get a chance to answer because Archie was off like a shot once he figured out which direction to go. His legs were definitely longer so it wasn't like he had to run to catch up but it did take long strides and a fast pace to keep from losing him. (Which he should have guessed after Archie's triple that should have been a double from earlier.)

After three years at Rosenblatt stadium he would think that he knew the place by heart but it really was huge and a little confusing at times. By the time they made it to a black door he couldn't have told you where they were or how to get back to the locker room.

Archie pushed the door open and then grinned back at him, "Found it!"

It was a little patch of green that couldn't be more than 6 feet wide and maybe 8 feet deep but when he looked up he saw the clear open sky. The show hadn't started yet but he heard the announcer's voice indistinctly in the background, which meant it would be starting soon. At first he sat cross-legged, looking up, but trying to put pressure on his palms made his shoulder ache so he conceded defeat and lay back. Archie was already beside him, his hands folded behind his head and eyes trained up in anticipation.

It didn't occur to him that he was staring until Archie turned his head with a look of worry, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he answered and turned to look up just in time for a loud pop and bright flash of white light in the sky.

The light show was pretty enough that at first they both just watched. It was weird that after who knows how long he had forgotten just how calming it actually could be. He watched the sky and felt something indescribable unwind in his chest. Beside him Archie was humming, like always, and it was just loud enough for him to catch over the distant thumping of whatever music was supposed to go along. The song made him smile and at the chorus both he and Archie started to sing along.

"_Hands… touching hands. Reaching out… touching me, touching you…_."

David paused just in time to hear Archie belt out the next bit, his smile so wide by the end of it that he thought his face was going to bust in two.

"Hey, no fair," Archie said, obviously embarrassed. "That's the most fun part to sing."

David couldn't help but disagree, "Nah, more fun watching you do it."

Even in the dark he could see the deep red on the top of Archie's cheeks. He was suddenly aware of just how big the kid's smile was, and even more aware at just how little he actually thought of him as a kid. He watched as Archie drummed his fingers on his chest and looked up again at the sky. It was the second time he could get caught staring but he honestly stopped caring.

The lights were flashing still in the background and he watched at just how happy that seemed to make his friend. It was weird, as that is what he was all of a sudden. Not a teammate, but a friend. And maybe he should have pieced together how miserable he had seemed a little sooner but he figured better late than never.

"You okay?" he asked, shocking even himself.

Archie turned a little and looked at him with an awkward smile for a second before his face relaxed into a little bit more serious of a stare. Like he had been testing the waters to see if maybe David was joking, and that made David feel like he had been a pretty shitty friend on his end.

"Yeah, I'm… fine," Archie said and even if David was as dense as his sister in law said he was he could still see the lie. He quirked an eyebrow and leveled a long stare. After a moment Archie amended, "I've been a bit… homesick."

_Well fuck,_ David thought. _Of course he is._

Archie bit at his lower lip and looked back up. "It isn't so bad anymore. First week it was pretty bad. My family and I … well. We're close?"

"Mine too," David said, choosing to look back up in the hope that it might keep Archie talking longer. "My brothers and I. Well. My… brother and I. We're close."

When he felt Archie turn to look at him he realized just what he had said. It wasn't like he didn't talk about Adam to people, he just hadn't really brought it up in a while. It was a weird pull of guilt when he thought about it. He should have been there, he thought, more. But he couldn't change any of it.

For some reason though, he felt compelled to keep going a little. "My brother Adam died of cancer. Now it's just Andy and I, but we're closer I guess. I keep 5 as my number to keep Adam close… It's just the way it goes."

"Oh _Cook_," Archie said from beside him, and suddenly he felt a warm hand on his forearm. He turned to see Archie looking at him with wide glassy eyes, and when did this get to be about him? He had meant to cheer Archie up.

He shook his head and forced a smile, "Give it a while, the boys become your summer family. Trust me."

"Really?" Archie looked skeptical.

David smiled, "Yeah. Johns is the cousin no one talks about, Castro is the one you go to when you want to party… Simon is the surly drunk uncle and Ryan is the distant third cousin no one likes but still gets invited somehow."

After a pause they both laughed, more to break the tension than anything thing else. David was thankful as they just watched for a while longer, light show reaching crescendo into a fit of red, white and blue. A minute or so after Archie gave a long sigh.

"That was awesome," he said emphatically and David couldn't help but agree.

They both sat up and started to dust off the grass from their clothes. When they reached for the door handle David looked back to see Archie's face screwed up in thought and he felt his stomach give an odd flip. "Everything okay?"

"Next time we should bring blankets," Archie said distractedly.

As he shut the door behind them he couldn't help but smile, "Definitely."

*

No matter how much David loved Johns (and he did, really, love him) he had learned halfway through the season previous that the worst thing possible for him was to room with him on the road. It wasn't that either one of them had something they did that annoyed the other, or even that they just didn't have the same personality. They actually had a little too much in common and they were maybe a little too compatible. In the long run, partying till three in the morning and drinking till who knows when just wasn't meant for two people who wanted to go somewhere when it came to baseball.

It had been a silent agreement to just room with other people.

(_"Aww, you planning on giving me the break up speech, Cookie? Trust me, I know it isn't me, it's you. That you are growing in a different direction, that you just need some time to find who you are." _

"Shut up, you prissy Aussie bastard."

"Fine, alright man, let the hurt out.")

When he was told that Archie would be his roommate he frowned but was more or less okay with it. He was still getting his bearings for the boy but he seemed like a decent enough guy. Maybe a little withdrawn but really that could be a plus in his favor. Even just imagining coming back to the room to find Archie holding a fifth of liquor or the number of a strip club was more than enough to make David laugh until his sides hurt. Not that he would tell it to Johns, but maybe he needed a little chill in his life.

The cool thing was that it gave him sometime to really get a feel for the new guy, even if he left most conversations less sure of what he knew about Archie than when he started. He found that he laughed a lot more with Archie around, which left him relaxed and helped him to get to sleep a lot easier than when he had someone hell bent on distracting them.

*

"Has anybody seen Archuleta?"

David looked up from where he was zipping closed his duffel to see the entire locker room look around at Ryan's request. His locker being directly next to Archie's meant that he could see quickly that he hadn't been back to change out yet and that his duffel was open and on the ground.

"Last time I saw him he was signing autographs," Jason offered, voice muffled by his head still rooting around in the back of his own locker space.

With a laugh, David gave Jason's leg a playful nudge, "Dude, we've been here three days. You can't lose stuff in three days."

Jason pulled back with a triumphant smile as he brandished a set of keys, "Whatever. Found it!"

"Cook, could you please go do some catcher wrangling?" Ryan asked, his voice somehow teasing and annoyed at the same time.

Without a word David gave a salute and then a wink and obliged. It wasn't like they were in their hometown, how many people could seriously want autographs? He rounded the corner and out onto the small landing meant for autographs and found that, in fact, a lot of people could want them.

He wasn't entirely sure how long it had been, long enough that he had taken a shower and was in his travel clothes but there were still at least a dozen people milling around Archie, though the mean age was probably 9 or 10. Archie, for his part, was smiling wide and happy, looking like he hadn't just been playing a game for two hours nor like he wanted to leave. He was amiable to a fault, David was sure of it.

"Hey Archie," David said, which got Archie to turn around with a huge grin. "It's alm--"

Archie's pleased laughed cut him off, "Awesome! Cook. Wait, you have to see this..."

David had a point to make, a point that Archie needed to hear but that fell from his lips as Archie leaned down and away from him. A second later a little boy, one that David hadn't even seen when he first came out, walked forward with his head tilted down and a sign clutched to his chest. An adult behind him, probably his dad if David thought about it, nudged him a little.

"Come on Benny, show him," the man urged, and the little boy turned an embarrassed glare towards his dad and then turned back with a tepid smile.

He inched forward cautiously and David gave in to the urge to kneel down just in time for Benny to turn the sign around. It wasn't the first time he had seen his face or name on poster, not that it happened that much but it wasn't completely unheard of. But it was, actually, the first time he had seen one so obviously made with love.

For a long moment he silently gaped at the work that had obviously gone into it. In the center was a printed out picture of his face, with a printed out crown on top. Above in careful kid's print were the words, "TIME FOR A WILD ROMPUS" and just below his face the added "FUTURE WILD THING" and an arrow pointing down. It was… well. It was silly and sweet and so very perfect he felt himself choke up. (Man he was thankful only Archie was there, the other guys would never let him live that down.)

The boy suddenly moved to take it back and David realized that he probably thought that he didn't like it. He put his hand out and stopped him, taking the sign with a deliberate care.

"Did you make this all by yourself?" he asked.

Benny gave a shy nod and then a quick correction; "My dad cut the pictures out for me."

"It's totally awesome. Best poster I've seen," he said and was surprised when he realized it was true. The little boy's face was bright pink and he couldn't quite meet his eyes but David saw his huge smile.

"Can I…. would you… sign it for me?"

David felt a warm pull of pure happy and he nodded enthusiastically, "Of course, but … one condition."

"What?" Benny's eyes were wide and his voice was up an octave.

Archie had handed him a pen a moment before and David stood up a bit to reach in his pocket and grab a piece of paper, "I'm going to need yours, too. I mean, 'future Wild Thing' and all."

The little boy beamed up at him and grabbed the pen to scrawl in huge letters "BENNY" on the back of a receipt from the truck stop from days before. When David handed the pen back to Archie he was given a face splitting grin.

"…what?"

Archie shrugged. The smile slipped, as he looked away, "Nothing."

"Hate to break it up," Ryan's voice came from behind them and David jerked around to see Ryan's annoyed face in the doorway. "But we would like to make it back before the game tomorrow."

*

Later, somewhere on the highway leading back to Omaha, David turned to find Archie with a serious look of concentration.

"Think any harder and you might make smoke," he teased.

Archie's face relaxed, "Sorry. I was just wondering… Um. Well. Never mind."

"Come on, we still have three hours left in this bus, might as well talk about something."

"You don't like the nickname 'Wild Thing', do you?"

David froze for a second, regretted asking for him to go on but knew there wasn't really point in trying to lie. "I didn't."

"Why not?"

"It started off as a joke," he said, his face averted to looking past Archie out the window at the scenery going by. "Because I can't be trusted… my _pitching style_ can't be trusted. I'd be playing perfect, really laying it on and getting it right and then… boom. It'll go all wrong, and there the Wild Thing is all over again."

It had been embarrassing when he first heard the name used, the _way_ it was used. It made him feel… like he hadn't come too far. He had ended the last season with a promise to himself that he would get himself under control and that he would come back and not be that guy again and for the most part he had done that. He was more dependable, his pitching a lot more consistent.

"I think it fits you," Archie said, and David turned quickly back to him. Archie looked horrified and then shook his head. "Not… not your pitching style. Not… yeah. No. Not that. I meant, like… you. It fits you. You are … different. You are awesome. And you have fun, and you make mischief but… you aren't a monster or anything. You're just.. you know…"

And it might have been fun to just watch Archie walk around his words for a little while longer but he decided to give him a break. "I get it… I think. I'm Max, not the actual monsters."

"Yeah," Archie said, visibly sinking back in relief at David interrupting him. "You're creative and different."

David smiled and winked, "Also, that makes me king."

"Guess so," Archie turned his head slightly so he was looking at the chair in front of him. "I still think it fits you… you know. I just can't say why."

His smile got a little bigger, "You know, it's beginning to grow on me."

*

There was always a fine line in the profession, between building team morale in an attempt at becoming a cohesive team, and becoming too close. It was inevitable that there would be teach switching and players being called up or sent down. Team line ups change all the time, and, save for the guys he had come up through the ranks with, he had avoided forming too close of bonds, because it was only a matter of time.

The night before the All Star break found them at King Kong's and David sat with his side pressed up against Archie again and he realized just how close he had let himself get to Archie. He told jokes and found himself waiting to hear Archie's laugh. He ordered wings, and without thinking he turned the plate for Archie to be able to grab them. Not that he would admit it, but it felt weird to think that not to long ago he wouldn't have been there with them.

With the possibility of four straight days off most players hadn't even bothered to come in the first place, but the ones that did were loud enough to make up for it. When they all had finished their food and split the bill up the party didn't quite feel ready to be over.

"Meet up at my condo," Johns offered the few people still there. He stood up and smiled, "This is a bring your own beer occasion, kids. I'm not made of money."

David was exhausted, beyond exhausted actually, but was never one to turn down an invite. Archie looked like he was going to decline the offer but David cut him off. "I'm not in the mood to drink. You should come, keep me company while they're all drunken and depraved."

"I don't think I'd be much fun," Archie frowned. "You should go."

"Come on Archie," Jason jumped in. "David needs someone to be boring with."

Eyebrows knit together, Archie conceded with a weak shrug, "Sure?"

*

A few girlfriends or wives showed up but it only ended up being nine people total at John's place. It was just as well, it was a pretty small condo and from the look on Stacey's face Johns hadn't really asked before inviting over a mass of people. (Even if she hid it well, David knew what her thin-lipped smile translated to.)

Archie didn't know where he was going, and so David had offered to take them. They stopped by a Sonics' to grab drinks of the non-alcohol variety and by the time they walked in it was already in full swing. The girls had branched off and were talking in the living room, while most of the guys sat on the back porch with beers and even a few cigars.

David smiled encouragingly at Archie and jerked his head to two open chairs up wind of the smoke. They sat down and were barely registered due to what seemed like a pretty heated debate between Jason, Johns and Chikezie.

"Come off it," Johns said, louder than was needed, "It's not like you're going to need her to be talking."

David was pretty sure he had walked in on the wrong part of this conversation but when it came to this group of guys it was up for debate on where the right part of the conversation would be.

Jason shook his head, gulping at the beer he had been finishing while Johns had ranted, "I don't care if she's hot, I'd rather not date a Barbie."

Chikezie snorted, "Which Barbie would she be? Dominatrix Barbie?"

Johns turned to David and Archie with sudden interest, "Come on, you two can settle the debate."

"Sure?"

Chikezie put a hand up to shut Johns up, "Let me, you two are biased."

David didn't know how to tell Chikezie that there was a good chance the two of them weren't biased at all, Johns and Jason just loved getting a rise out of each other. "Megan Fox?"

"What about her?" Archie asked with genuine confusion and David bit back a laugh. Before someone had to explain it Archie caught on and went wide-eyed. "The girl from Transformers? … oh... uh. Ew. I mean… NO. No, thank you?"

David snorted a sip of cherry limeade before he gave a choked chuckle, "I'm with Archie."

Jason gave a celebratory pump of his fist. "Exactly."

"_Figures _," Johns muttered.

David caught sight of Archie giving him a weird look and he felt something in his stomach warm pleasantly. He was forced to look away when the debate was taken anew, now switched to Rachel McAdams. (Who was unanimously voted hotter than Megan Fox and the bonus of intelligence made her the bar for the rest of the hotness debates for the night.)

David was usually pretty vocal during this part of parties, he knew it was mostly in his head but he always thought that his silence on the subject was all but coming out of the closet. But somehow, with Archie seated and silent beside him, he just didn't feel like joining in. The guys didn't notice much, except for when there was a tight enough race that their opinions would count in or against their favor. As the night wore on and the others got more and more drunk though, they were forgotten about entirely.

Content to just watch the debate, David didn't even notice until past midnight that Archie's eyes were barely staying open. He felt kind of like a jerk, as he knew he was the one to have the power of the ride home and he knew for a fact Archie would never have asked him to go.

He smiled and faked a loud yawn, which got the attention of Jason who looked amused.

"When'd you get old?" Jason teased, his voice just slightly slurred.

"Your mom just wore me out last night," David shot back and a (thankfully empty) red cup was chucked at his head. He dodged it and looked at Archie. "Want to get out of here?"

Archie, who had sat up straighter in his seat and forced himself to look more awake, sagged slightly with relief, "Sure."

*

Archie still lived in the interim housing that players were given when they first moved up. David didn't have the heart to tell Archie that they called it 'Limbo-land' and took bets on just how long people who lived there were going to stay on the team. As he walked through the narrow hallway leading to Archie's door he remembered his brief time there years back and the weird feeling of being on his own and scared.

"Have you gotten a chance to talk to your family?" he asked, his mouth opened before he could think just how rude that was.

Archie looked a little like a kicked puppy but he gave a vague nod. "I talked to … my mom. She and my sister Claudia were going to try and come up for a game. But… you know. Stuff came up."

It was obvious how little he wanted to talk about it but with a lack of what to say next came instead a heavy silence between them. When Archie stopped at a door and grabbed in his pockets David figured it was about time to bow out.

"I guess I'll see you when we get back," he offered.

Archie swung the door open and turned to him like he hadn't heard what he just said, "You want to come in?"

"Why not?" David smiled.

Archie's apartment was... for the lack of a better word, sterile. It wasn't meant to be the type of place you stay in for long, which David knew full well, but the only time he had seen a place this devoid of anyone living in it was the day he moved in. The fact that Archie had been there for _weeks_ and it still looked just like he could leave with all his worldly good in five minutes flat made something in David's chest tug fiercely.

"Nice place?" he said, not convincingly, but Archie smiled like he believed him. (Somehow that made it worse.) "Have you gotten a chance to look for longer term?"

He got a shrug, and, despite the poor lighting, a blush as well. "I don't want to jinx it. Who knows where I'm going to be tomorrow?"

"What're you talking about? You're an awesome catcher. We're lucky to have you."

Archie looked up at him through his lashes. He stared for a long moment disbelievingly before it was gone, and even though the smile seemed genuine David had no idea how he could get from one look to the other so quickly.

"Do you want something to drink?"

David shrugged, "Whatcha got?"

They had maybe four feet between them and the fridge but rather than actually look in it Archie stared at it like he had x-ray vision. "Water, juice… I used the last of the milk for breakfast this morning… I think I have protein powder?"

"Water's fine," David smiled, and patted his stomach. "I've been working on my physique for years man, why change now?"

Archie came back out and handed him a cup, sheepishly trying to hide the cartoon character on the bottom of it. David smiled when he turned it around and looked over at Archie's cup to smile as well.

"I get Sponge Bob but you get Sandy, how is that fair?"

Archie blinked at the cup in his hand and then back at David. "You watch Sponge Bob?"

"I've got a niece and nephew," he said, skirting the fact that Sponge Bob was also kind of fun to watch on his own as well.

Archie looked away, "Yeah. I have younger siblings."

If he was honest with himself, David would admit that this was the kind of situation alcohol was designed for. Bad for you or not, alcohol served as the social lubricant everyone needed to get them away from ending up on a couch in an apartment talking about their favorite characters from Sponge Bob Squarepants.

It wasn't like he was a novice when it came to flirting, he actually considered himself to be quite a flirt when he wanted to be. Boys or girls, either way, he had a knack for the seamless flirt that got him free drinks at bars and phone numbers when he wanted them. But he knew, without a doubt, that he had no chance of getting Archie to bite the hook of any line. It was actually kind of petrifying.

After a while, though, he just gave up and began the slow process of inching himself across the couch and closer to where Archie sat seemingly oblivious. Not until there was no space between them, when David's left thigh pressed against Archie's right, did Archie seem to notice and he turned so fast that neither had time to stop his elbow from meeting David's stomach.

"Ooof!"

"Oh my gosh," Archie called out, already on his feet and flailing wildly. "I'm so sorry. Cook, are you okay? I'm _so so so so so sorry_."

Finally able to catch his breath David put a hand up to stop Archie mid freak out. Only a bit breathless he reassured him, "I'm fine, Arch. Shouldn't have snuck up on you like that, my fault too."

Archie stood stock-still and looking at him, "Yeah, why did you move across the couch like that?"

David wanted to say something like, _If you have to ask maybe I was off my mark._ but knew that in this case that was probably not true. Instead he threw out protocol and grabbed out at Archie's wrist. He pulled gently but seemingly caught Archie off guard and he fell forward onto him.

When their lips met it was smashed and uncomfortable, a mixture of over zealousness on David's part and forward motion on Archie's. But then David figured a way to tug Archie around and get him onto the couch with out breaking the kiss for more than a half a second and then they were _kissing_ and much to David's amazement Archie was kissing back.

The sound of whatever CD Archie had popped in was playing and it was the kind of moment that reminded David of stupid movies but for once he liked that. He put a hand on the couch's arm and lifted himself up for a second to look.

"Hi," Archie smiled, a little dazed but bright and happy.

David couldn't help but laugh a little at how weird it was but leaned back in for another kiss before he thought better of it. Archie didn't seem to mind.

*

By the time they stopped it was somewhere past three in the morning and Archie had fallen asleep in between one sentence and another. They hadn't really done much. Actually, David felt more or less like he was in high school again, making out on the couch for hours to a repeating CD of a guy with a guitar and nothing else.

The rational part of him said to wake Archie up and lead him to his bed, to stay and to talk it out but he hadn't listened to that part of himself in decades. He stood up and snuck out the door, thankful that no one was in the hallway to see him walking out.

*

 

It was embarrassing to see Archie the first day back, it had only been a few days since he had left Archie's apartment but the time in between had mostly been spent **thinking**. By the time he saw Archie walk towards him, head down and looking disturbingly like a puppy, David had thought about everything enough that his brain ached.

A consolation, almost, would be that it looked like Archie had been thinking about it as well. He didn't look tired, per se, just worn down and his usual morning excitement seemed subdued at best. David knew that the best thing to do would be to breach the subject, address what needed to be and then move on.

That would be the best thing, but it would require him to actually have an idea of what the hell he was doing and that was just not in the cards at all.

He closed his locker with a little more force than necessary and Archie jumped a foot in the air. David took a moment to mentally smack himself around before he turned and looked directly at Archie.

"Hey."

Archie still looked nervous but his lips twitched upwards, "Hey."

"We still on for tonight?"

Archie's eyebrows furrowed. "Tonight?"

"It's Friday," David said simply, and when Archie smiled he knew that had been the right thing to say.

*

The fireworks that night had the theme of "America", not that creative and kind of cliché but it was worth it when Archie started to smile even before the first burst had faded from the sky. The game that day had been brutal, a loss for Jason and an embarrassing one at that. But neither of them had played and they had spent the entirety of the game leaned up against the bar watching the action and only slightly pressing up against each other.

It had become their ritual since the first time, every other week there was a fireworks display and every time they went to the special little cove of space that seemed completely forgotten by most. Archie had been the one to bring a quilt, stashed in the bottom of his locker, and they usually ended up having some of their better conversations during the hour-long shows.

They started with talk of the game, faded into a conversation about the upcoming road trip but it felt forced and it only lasted so long before they lapsed into silence. There was the issue that needed to be talked about, but he didn't want to. In fact, given a list of a thousand things to do it was possibly just above 'removing own tooth'.

With the beginning of Brooks and Dunn's 'Only in America', David figured he had nothing else to lose. He exhaled the breath he hadn't noticed himself holding and kept his eyes focused on the flash and then fade of each explosion.

"I guess we should talk about it," he said. From beside him he heard a non-descript sigh, but he pressed on. "It's kind of stupid for us to start something. We play for triple-A, and you are going places. Who knows where each of us will be at the end of this season."

Another pause and then Archie spoke, "What if we're still here at the end of the season?"

David doubted Archie would be, catchers were in short order especially in the Royals franchise at the moment and Archie really was good at what he did but it wasn't worth the fight. He shrugged, "Then we're here."

"Can we…" Archie started and David finally turned to see him chewing on his bottom lip and looking up at the sky. "Would you mind if we just took it for now then? Enjoy the days as they come?"

Stunned, David nodded when Archie turned to him and then, without thinking, rolled over the last little bit and gave him a slow but chaste kiss. He rolled back over like it hadn't just happened and watched the rest of the show in dead silence, the only thing different from earlier was his keen awareness of just how close Archie was to him.

When it was over Archie rolled the blanket up and looked at David nervously, "Want to go… um… home?"

"Yeah, I guess we should," David smiled.

*

The transition from Archie and he as roommates to Archie and he as a … well. _Couple_ would be the only word that would work… but it was surprisingly without bumps. They were around each other twenty four seven either way, and it wasn't like they really could do much more when it came to PDA (well. David was handsy, at least, Archie was still pretty hands off) and so it just was. They would wake up, make out for a while, get dressed, go down stairs for breakfast and practice and/or game day and then stumble home usually pretty late and collapse into one bed rather than two.

David was sure it couldn't get any better than that. Get paid to do what you love and end the day happy and exhausted? Hell, yeah.

There was a part of him waiting for the other shoe to drop, sometimes. But he was pretty good at ignoring that part of him, and as one week fell to another and another the other shoe stayed metaphorically out of sight. If anything (and he wouldn't say it out loud, ever or he would be petrified he would jinx it) things actually got better over time. They played better, together, after day in and out of being together. Sometimes he would think something and he was sure Archie corrected without really anything said between them. It was _awesome_.

"I don't know what you two are doing," Coach Cowell said, his eyes slit slightly as if in accusation. "But don't stop now."

*

They were on a road trip, in Reno of all places, and he was starting. He made it through the first four innings with really little trouble but the top of the fifth came around and suddenly he realized. He had done four and a half innings without one guy getting on base.

Four and a half innings… half a game. And just like that, his mojo was completely shot, just like every time before, and he was screwed.

The next guy up ended walking in five pitches and he threw another two to the guy at the top of the order, and he felt the familiar desire to walk away. Archie lifted one hand and walked calmly out to the mound, his mask off and onto the top of his head.

"You good?" he asked, his hand suddenly on his lower back. "Hey, you got me? You're fine, you're _good_. Relax."

David exhaled, focused on the dirt just in front of the mound and then forced himself to look back up. Archie wasn't smiling, not quite, but his face was relaxed and opened, not an ounce of worry or concern and he felt the knot in the center of his back relax infinitesimally. He nodded, swallowed and licked his fingertips to try the grip again and then nodded again. "Yeah. Got this. I got this."

The ump was just making his way, albeit slowly, to the mound when Archie turned around and jogged back towards him. David indicated that he was all good to the pitching coach and turned around again. He did his best to ignore where the man stood on first base, looking just a little bit full of himself and even more self assured, and instead focused again just a few feet ahead of him at the strip of dirt that lead from where he was straight down to where Archie squatted in front of him.

He couldn't see his face, but he could picture the look on it. Focused, ready. He got this. They had it. Right then.

After that, it was game on.

*

Less than an hour later found him in the center of a storm. He had pitched, ultimately, four more innings without letting on one more guy. In fact, after the next at bat the smug face on the pitcher was erased by a pathetically easy double play and then two runs bat in during the bottom half. It was… it was like the moment on the mound didn't happen, like the entire last three years of his career had been wiped clean with the flash of relaxed smile and easy nod of Archie's head.

Hands kept patting his back, people kept asking him questions and oddly he kept getting a niggling sense of annoyance about the whole thing. He had tried his best to enjoy it, had for a while… but it quickly dissolved into him having to grin and bear it and that just felt silly. This was supposed to be his moment, a mile marker and yet… nothing.

"Alright boys, break it up!" Johns' voice came through the rumble, his hand landing on David's shoulder. "I don't know about all of you, but I think it's time we get this boy out and give him some flu like symptoms!"

Normally this would be the point where David would laugh and make a crack at Johns' expense. (Probably something about the three Sundays in a row that he had missed the season before because of Johns' pursuit of flu like systems and what the coach had to say about that.) But instead he shrugged and got half of a protest out of his mouth before Johns shook his head.

"Oh no, Cookie dear," he put his hand over David's mouth. "You are going out with us tonight, whether you like it or not. You pitched a _no hitter_, don't even try it."

There were few things you could wriggle out of when it came to Michael Johns, and drinking wasn't one of them. He forced a smile. "Lead the way, but you're the one who's got to play tomorrow. Remember that."

Something in the devious glint in his friend's eyes told him that didn't seem to mean much to him.

*

He had just finished toweling off in the shower when he realized just what about the situation was making him feel uncomfortable. He turned to say something to Archie and realized that Archie _wasn't there_… which, in the two months he had been working with him, had yet to occur. It was weird to think that it had only been two months, especially when realizing that his absence made him feel like he had a phantom limb.

"Where's Archie?" David asked when Johns came up and jerked his head to indicate it was time to go. "Is he still doing autographs?"

Johns shook his head and gave a devious grin, "He went back to the hotel… he's still a few seasons off from getting to come with on these trips. Now let's get on with it, there are bars to see and drinks to imbibe."

The thought of at least attempting to turn him down was ridiculous and he knew it, so David followed behind. Just a few drinks maybe, wait till the guys were too gone to realize who was there and what they celebrating.

Hours later, David stumbled into his hotel room with an embarrassing lack of grace. Somewhere he knew he had to at least try and keep it quiet, no doubt Archie was fast asleep by that point and it wasn't fair of him to wake him up. Knowing that, though, and actually **being quiet** turned out to be far easier said than done and by the time he made it the few feet to his bed he had a pair of arms wrapped around him.

"'m sorry," he slurred, and then laughed at the weird sound of his voice. "You're taller than I remember... Did you grow while I was gone?"

Archie let out a puff of air and dropped him back on the bed. "No, you're just hunched over."

David fell back onto his back and closed his eyes tight in hopes that the room would stop tilting from side to side. "You sure?"

"I'm sure," he said distractedly while taking off David's shoes and socks. "Did you have fun?"

David nodded, but regretted that when it just renewed his sense of vertigo. "I wish you had been there. It was weird not having you close by... I like you being there. You keep me out of trouble."

"Were you… did you get in much trouble while you were gone?" Archie's voice was quiet and had a tinge of sad that caught David off guard.

"Not trouble, just…" he lost his train of thought and closed his eyes, giving in entirely to the tug of sleep at the back of his brain.

*

When he walked in the locker room to see the look of misery on half of his teammates shouldn't be such a comfort, but it is. Archie hadn't seemed susceptible to pity when he had woken up with one hell of a hang over (He had also, apparently, slept in another bed and David wasn't going to even think about that for too long).

"Cook," Ryan said, his voice dripping with false sincerity. "Coach would like to see you in the office. "

The entire room, which was buzzing with noise a moment before, went dead silent. There was something in his stomach he hadn't felt since high school, called to the Principal's office with no idea what he had done wrong… All eyes trained on David as he walked across the locker room and into small hallway that lead to the Skipper's temporary office.

Just as the door shut behind him he heard a catcall from what he thought was Johns, and he wanted to turn around and glare on principal. Stupid Johns and his stupid flu-like symptoms, which was what this had to be. He rubbed his slightly sweaty palms onto the tops of his jeans and knocked on the frame when he reached the open door.

"Um, Coach Cowell?"

Simon looked up from a stack of papers and frowned, like he needed to remember just whom David was. When it clicked though he half stood and waved a hand.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Cook. I've been waiting for you."

*

By the time he stepped out of the office ten minutes later and back into the locker room he really hadn't had the chance to process what had been said. He wondered, briefly, if this was still a dream laced with alcohol and if he was going to wake up and find that he had to go through the hang over all over again.

Jason saw him first, did a double take before he talked, "Hey Cook, you okay, man? How much trouble did you get into? Did you try and blame Johns? You know that Cowell would agree if you said it was his fault."

David shook his head, and he didn't notice that he kept walking forward. Johns saw him next, but didn't think twice at the look on his face.

"I blame you entirely for that last Aftershock," Johns chided. "My head is pounding."

"Cook," Archie's voice finally forced him to catch up with the conversation and he turned towards his concerned face. "Everything okay?"

David nodded, "DiNardo pulled a muscle in his elbow. I ... I just got called up."

The people in his immediate surroundings turned to him and it became quiet and maybe a little awkward. Johns smacked a hand on his back and the noise it brought sounded a lot louder in the silence. "You got called up? CALLED UP? Damn straight!"

Just like when other players had gone from their team, it became a mad house of cheers and jeers. Jason pulled him in for a quick man hug/back slap, Johns took him in for a hug and then pulled him into a headlock. He got high fives and hugs and it was just about then when he realized it was actually real and the numb feeling dropped off into something more like excitement. A warm feeling bloomed in his chest and he started to laugh at just how ridiculous it was.

He lost track of who was who in the grand scheme of arms and good will, but then he was pushed towards Archie, who was just about as prepared for the hug as David was. It was a little stupid when he thought about it, but the sudden contact of Archie's body to his made him feel exposed and maybe a little like his chest ached. It wasn't like they hadn't done much more but it was oddly intimate to just have his arms around him and to feel Archie's hands on his back.

It probably went a little too long but when they pulled back most of his teammates seemed to have missed that entirely. Archie's face was a little flushed and David was too distracted by it to realize he was probably no better off. He stared slack jawed for a moment.

"That's awesome," Archie said earnestly, even if his smile seemed a little forced. "Congratulations."

Jason had stepped back into his peripheral vision, "Wait, when you do leave?"

"Now," David said, and it sounded just as weird from his mouth as it had from Cowell's mouth a minute before. "I'm meeting them in New York. They need me to pitch tomorrow."

After years of wanting to be called up, of watching his teammates going up and having the career he dreamed about, he wasn't entirely sure why it felt so hollow. They were already on the road, his duffell packed for the two weeks that he thought he would be gone. He wondered when he would get a chance to get back to him apartment and get the rest of his stuff, if he should even bother. His friends were all standing there, even when they should have gone out and started warming up and irrationally he had the sudden desire not to go at all.

"Just remember us in your Cy Young speech," Johns broke the tense silence. "Us little people you stepped on on your way to the top."

David rolled his eyes, "I don't think they ask for a speech for Cy Young, Johns."

"Blake is on the Yankees now," Jason offered, "Find him and he can drop some knowledge on you."

"Not going to happen," he shook his head, "I don't want him to bust out Jimmie Walker Blue."

Johns and Jason simultaneously shuddered.

Archie, who had been standing off to the side, shifted from one foot to the other and then looked at him, "Good luck."

"Thanks Arch," David pulled him in for a tight hug. The uncomfortable churn of his stomach felt less and less related to his hang over and more related to something else.

A terse cough behind him made him realize that Ryan stood there, tapping a toe and looking annoyed. He broke the hug hesitantly but avoided looking Archie in the eye and looked at the rest of the group instead.

"Guess that's my cue."

*

The initial rush of excitement at being called up wore off somewhere across the middle of the country. The five-hour flight from Texas to New York seemed to stretch infinitely in front of him and where as in the past he would have just listened to music or caught some sleep neither seemed to be a possibility. It felt almost like his skin was shrinking, he was taught and yet twitchy, unable to keep his brain focused long enough on the baseline through his headphones or on his laptops screen where he had downloaded videos of the Yankee's last game to see what he was up against.

What he was up against was the _fucking_ Yankees. Not even a weak team to start off with, he is put directly in the line of fire. It just wasn't fair. It was like playing your first real gig at the Met, it was totally out of order and weird and it just didn't feel right at all.

A team representative met him at the airport and didn't help the matter at all. He was nice enough, tall and bald with tattoos and a huge relaxed smile. He stuck his hand out and introduced himself as Chris Daughtry ("Call me Chris") and he almost looked familiar, like maybe he had been a player before but he couldn't quite place him. Maybe it was just that he reminded David of someone he would want to hang out with. That was true, until the second they got into the taxi and he went from friendly to business in a flash.

"Here's the deal," Chris started, eyes going over a checklist. "We have to get you warmed up and ready for tomorrows game. We don't have much time today we are going to get you at warm ups just before the game started and we don't want to overwork you. That being said, I've been catching up on your tapes and you've got talent."

David tried for a confident nod but felt it fall flat and shrugged, hoping he hadn't caught Archie's tendency to blush, "Thanks?"

"Bob is warming Bannister up, so you can just go down there and meet him then," Chris said, handing him a sheet and a pass without looking up. "I'm going to need your number so I can get you a jersey. I assume you want to keep your number from the minors?"

"Yes."

Chris made another check and looked out the window of the cab, "You already have a little magic in you, this is the lightest I've see the traffic since we got here."

Not sure if Chris was joking, as the road around him seemed cluttered with not only cars but people, David didn't reply and instead looked down to the paper work he was going to have to fill out that night.

*

When he woke the next morning and Archie wasn't right next to him he felt a weird sensation of loss. Even taking in to consideration the few times they fought or the one weekend long jag where David's parents had been in town, they rarely woke up without each other. He felt like he hadn't gotten the right kind of sleep in days, which was probably not a good thing considering he was going to be _starting_ today.

He had spent the night before watching the game like it was his very first baseball game. He didn't talk with the other players even though he knew he should, he was far too into the play of the game. The dugout didn't give him the greatest view, and he knew there was a video feed he could be watching but none of that mattered. He focused on the way Bannister stood, watched as each player came up and either made contact with the bat or not. He nervously repeated names and numbers in his head and itched to call someone (his mother? Andy? Archie?) for distraction.

He had had a good warm up session the day before, and his arm didn't feel tense or even sore. He knew he had a good game in him, that he was just psyching himself out but logic really didn't have much of help in that moment.

Going through the motions of his morning routine was a comfort but everything felt just off enough, almost like he was in an alternate universe. He had to give it to the Majors the hotel room he was in was definitely three steps up from what he was used to. The team bus was down where he had been dropped off and the varying players he had met yesterday took it upon themselves to introduce him to whoever he hadn't gotten a chance to meet face to face as of yet.

"You ready?" John Buck asked with a Cheshire cat smile.

David nodded, even if he was sure he was lying.

*

The good thing is when he gets to the mound it feels almost the same. As long as he didn't look to the stands (packed, there was probably the entire year's attendance for the Omaha Royals in the stands at the moment) he could trick himself into believing this was just like any other start. He licked his fingers and wet the ball closed his eyes.

John Buck signaled for a fastball and he shook it off. He signaled for it again, a little more deliberate and David shook it off again. There was a pause and he gave him the signal for a curve ball and he nodded more in fear of incurring some sort of newbie wrath rather than comfort in the pitch.

The ball curved perfect, making it just into the strike zone and making the batter swing.

_Strike one_.

He exhaled. This was okay and he could do this.

It was the usual ebb and flow of a game, he let a few on base and there was one run in the bottom of the third but it wasn't that big of a deal really. He was doing well.

When Alex Rodriguez stepped up to bat in the beginning of the fifth inning David was still fairly confident. The Yankees were formidable, definitely, but it wasn't nearly as bad as he had thought it was going to be. But there was someone on second and A-Rod had this glint in his eyes and suddenly David forgot the other five innings. His heart was beating way too fast in his chest and his palms were sweating.

He looked at John who was signaling a knuckle ball, he was good with that. He was better than good with that, that was _his pitch_. He blinked and rubbed the sweat out of his eyes with his left forearm before he planted his foot and threw.

_Ball one_.

Something in his stomach lurched and he swallowed around a dry mouth. This hadn't happened to him in weeks. He put his head down to focus on the seam of the ball, inhaled and exhaled and then looked back up. He got the signal for another knuckleball and tried again, throwing this time just a fraction of a second later than the last and hoping for the best.

When he heard the crack of the bat he knew without having to watch that the ball was gone. The cheers of the crowd confirmed it was a home run.

_Fuck_, he thought.

When he got pulled the next inning it was too an embarrassing round of cheers from Yankees fans. The score was at 7 to 1 and it was his fault entirely. The pitching coach walked him down to get stretched and iced but he knew whatever talking to he might get was nothing compared to the mental lashing he was giving himself. His first game in the majors and he let in seven runs, which was just plain embarrassing.

*

When he got back to his room later on he already had eight missed calls. His mom, naturally, who had tried her best but there was just no way she was going to be able to make it on such short notice. It was obvious the call was before the game as she kept saying how excited she was, how proud she was. He saved it even if the idea of listening to it again wasn't entirely pleasant. Andy called, and the lack of teasing in his voice told him that it had been after he walked off the field, he just erased that one in the middle of it.

Archie hadn't left a message but rather just called in half hour intervals like he was waiting for the moment that David would be there to pick it up. He hit send and only had to hear one ring before Archie picked it up.

"Hey," Archie said in a breathy way, like he had run to get to the phone. "Are you okay?"

David almost laughed but stopped himself. Archie was just being concerned, he was being _Archie_. David sighed and pinched his nose. "It didn't go ideally I guess."

"It was your first game," Archie said. "And Buck just wasn't … he didn't…"

He recognized that stutter and smiled despite himself, "Archie, are you about to insult someone?"

"He should have gone out in the fifth!" Archie said, so annoyed and indignant that David could feel his chest ache. "You just needed a second and he kept calling for pitches even when you said no, and that is just… just…"

"His job?"

Archie gave a frustrated sigh, "No, it isn't. His job is to make sure you are okay."

Something felt like it lifted off of his shoulders and the way Archie was so determinedly upset. "Thanks for defending my honor."

There was a long silence in which David thought of all the things he probably should say but knocked them down one by one. ("I miss you." Being high on the list.) Then he thought of the things he probably _shouldn't_ say and shot them down as well. ("What if I am not meant to be in the majors?")

Finally he sighed and went to a different topic. "How were the fireworks tonight?"

"I didn't go," Archie practically whispered and David was pretty sure that meant that he missed him too.

*

It shouldn't be a relief when, after one more lackluster start and the return of DiNardo, he got that call that he was going back down, but it doesn't change the fact that it was. He went back to the locker that still had his name written on sticky tape above it and grabbed at the few personal possessions he had in it and shoved them carelessly into his duffel bag.

He made it out of the locker room without being seen and was almost home free when he heard his name get called. He turned to find Chris as he jogged the last twenty or so feet to bridge the gap between them. David restlessly played with the strap of his bag and tried not to look as anxious as he was feeling.

"Hey," Chris started. "Heard you got sent back down."

David rubbed a hand along the back of his neck, "Yeah, better luck next time, right?"

"I guess," he hesitated. "Listen, man… I got to say. I think you got it… actually I know you have it, you just need to find your focus. When you do? You'll be unstoppable."

He nodded, not sure what he was supposed to say to that… if he should take it as a compliment or not. A part of him was offended, the guy wasn't that much older than he was, and he wasn't really looking for advice in the parking lot of Kauffman stadium. But Chris was looking at him with genuine sincerity, and he knew he couldn't take it as anything other than the help he thought it had been.

"Thanks," he offered his hand out and they shook. Chris pulled him in for an awkward one shoulder back slap and David had to hold back a laugh. "See you?"

"See you soon," he nodded.

*

They had left while on the road, which made walking into the locker room just a bit unreal. He put his bag down in front of his locker and inhaled the familiar scent. For a second he could probably convince himself that the last three weeks had been some weird fever dream, but maybe that was just a bit too maudlin even for him.

Someone, he assumed from the front office, had put a clean jersey on a hanger and he grabbed it. He hadn't seen anyone yet, there was still about an hour before the pitchers call time so it was far too early. He had thought about going back to his apartment before but he hadn't actually wanted to go. Instead his car made it's way back with little thought on his behalf.

He slipped the jersey on and buttoned it up before he let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding. He took a few steps back before he sat down on the bench with a loud thump. His elbows on his knees, he rubbed both palms into his closed eyes.

"Cook?"

He jerked back. Archie stood at the end of the aisle, looking achingly similar to the first day he had met him, anxious and shy and oh so young. It hadn't been that long since the phone call, not even a full week, but it had been the longest stretch of time where they hadn't talked since they had met, and he hadn't known just how wrong that felt until it had been righted.

He pushed himself up and had his arms around Archie in a matter of maybe six steps. Archie was stiff for all of a split second before he relaxed, his face in the crook of David's neck and his breath warm against his chin.

"You're back," Archie said, and exhaled a weird half laugh.

He nodded, gave one last tight squeeze before he pulled back. "Miss me?"

"_Yes_."

David had mostly thought of it as a joke but couldn't help the smile that the conviction of Archie's tone gave him. He pulled him in for another hug, this time with his face in Archie's neck. "Good, 'cause I missed you."

The look Archie gave him as he pulled back was some mixture of sad and … _eager_ that David hadn't seen before. If they were anywhere else David would do something about it, but somehow that didn't seem to be as big of a deal as he might have thought.

They stood for a minute or so, far too close for locker room etiquette but that didn't matter. The room was empty, blessedly so, but that realization made him think, "Wait, how'd you know I was here?"

"Coach Cowell called me in," Archie said, his eyebrows knit together. "Why?"

With a quick look at the locker room to make sure it was still empty David leaned his forehead forward and placed it in the crook of Archie's neck for a half a second before he pulled back and looked him straight in the eyes. "I've gotta say something."

"Yeah?"

He let out a breath, "I'm going to mess this up. A lot."

Archie blinked rapidly at the admission, then leveled a look that seemed to be making sure that this wasn't some kind of joke. "… you are?"

"Yeah," David admitted, his eyes darted down to the floor to make sure he was thinking this through and then back up. "You're going to have to forgive me for that in advance."

Archie nodded and David hoped that he was getting just how much he _wasn't_ saying.

"It didn't feel right."

"What didn't?"

David frowned, "Any of it, I couldn't get my arm to relax, Buck kept calling for things I wasn't ready for and he didn't know when to let me breath. Even when I asked for him to he just… he wasn't right. _It_ wasn't right. _You weren't there_ and I need you."

"Come on, Cook," Archie frowned. "Don't say that."

He shrugged, really it didn't matter if Archie believed him. It was true, all the way. He hadn't known it himself, not until he actually said it. He was okay with needing to prove it to him over time.

"If it isn't the prodigal son," Coach Cowell said, and both turned to see him walking along the aisle with his familiar sardonic smile. "Glad to see you both here, we're going to need you to warm up. Castro is having a bit of a trouble with his arm, and seeing as you are back I want to take advantage and give him a break. You game?"

David nodded, "Yeah, of course. You good, Archuleta?"

Archie had a smile on his face that offered something David would take advantage of later on. "Let's go."

*

"A few weeks ago you got called up and sent back down in barely a week. What exactly do you think makes this call up different than the last one?"

It was a fair question, seeing as his last send down wasn't on the best of terms but there wasn't an easy way to explain it.

"Last time there was different expectations of me," he started, slowly thinking out the way he was going to explain it. "I was replacing someone that the fans already trusted. Being added to the roster on my own merit takes that expectation away."

He couldn't help but let his eyes flick to where Archie was seated next to him; so nervous David was pretty sure his knee was vibrating rather than just shaking. When Archie's eyes met David's he paused in his nervous energy to flash him an honest to goodness _grin_.

"You really think that is going to make a difference?"

Archie was coming with this time… _that_ was what was different. He wouldn't have to fight the nerves and the worry and the uphill battle of trying to actually go somewhere with his profession alone. Instead he would have someone he trusted and who trusted him implicitly… who knew when he needed a moment to collect himself and who had the best chance of talking him back from a breakdown.

(The fact that at the end of the night they went back to their hotel room and fell asleep next to each other was just the frosting on that cupcake.)

With a smile and a shrug he shifted his gaze back to where the reporter's hand was poised over a note pad. "Don't know, doesn't matter. You'll just have to trust me, just watch."


End file.
